The Economic Impact of the Green Industry in the United States Charles R. Hall, Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Tennessee, 2621 Morgan Circle Room 314B, Knoxville, TN 37996,
[email protected] Alan W. Hodges, Associate, Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Florida, PO Box 110240, Gainesville, FL 32611,
[email protected] John J. Haydu, Professor, Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Florida, 2725 Binion Rd, Apopka, FL 32703,
[email protected] ABSTRACT This study estimates the economic impacts of the U.S. environmental horticulture industry (also known as the Green Industry) to be $147.8 billion in output, 1,964,339 jobs, $95.1 billion in value added, $64.3 billion in labor income, and $6.9 billion in indirect business taxes, with these values expressed in 2004 dollars. ADDITIONAL KEY WORDS: environmental horticulture industry, economic impacts, Green industry, industry analysis. JEL CODES: Industrial Organization; Industry Studies – Manufacturing, Services; Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics Selected Paper prepared for presentation at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meetings, Orlando, Florida, February 5-8, 2006 Copyright 2005 by Charles R. Hall, Alan W. Hodges, and John J. Haydu. All rights reserved. Reader may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. Introduction The U.S. environmental horticulture industry, also known as the Green Industry, is comprised of wholesale nursery and sod growers, landscape architects, designers/builders, contractors and maintenance firms, retail garden centers, home centers and mass merchandisers with lawn and garden departments, and marketing intermediaries such as brokers and horticultural distribution centers (re-wholesalers).